Men’s Health week sees Against Breast Cancer launch our first ever male breast cancer awareness campaign. A social media campaign to raise awareness of male breast cancer, encourage men to check themselves, provide a safe space for men to support each other and ultimately raise awareness of the importance of continued research to improve therapies for all breast cancer patients.
Why have you called it the Moobment?
We wanted something catchy that would mobilize people to spread the word and raise awareness of male breast cancer. We wanted men to feel part of a movement to do so.
After some play on words to incorporate male breasts, ‘Moobment’ was born.
Although it is uncommon in everyday language to use the word breast when referring to men, every man does develop a small amount of breast tissue.
Lastly we want to draw a distinction between Gynaecomastia (sometimes referred to as ‘man boobs’) and male breast cancer. Gynaecomastia (which is also known as moobs or man-boobs) is a benign condition that causes male breasts to swell and become larger. If you notice any swelling or changes you should see your GP.
The Moobment was created as part of Men’s Health Week to encourage men to check themselves regularly for early signs of breast cancer by looking for changes, the graphic below displays recognisable symptoms.
What are the aims of The Moobment?
We need to raise awareness
In 2017 there were 428 new cases of male breast cancer men in the UK. Yet many people are unaware that men can develop breast cancer as they don’t consider men to have breasts. In fact, both women and men have breast tissue and the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer are similar, but the risk and causes vary slightly.
Everyone needs to check themselves
Most men don’t realise that they need to be ‘chest aware’ but it is important for everyone to check themselves regularly.
Men helping men
We want to provide a platform for men to support each other through diagnosis and beyond.
We need to fund research to improve prevention, detection and therapies
Male and female breast cancers behave in the same way and the treatment is practically the same. Our objective, to find specific breast cancer cells to target for immune therapy, could be of benefit to men as well as women.